Wednesday Morning Headlines

On numerous mock drafts circulating the web, John Wall continues to be projected as the number one pick in next summer's NBA draft. Patrick Patterson is also figured as a lottery pick, as well. With rumors that Orton and Cousins would like to go pro, too, combined with the seniors that will be departing no matter what, next season's roster could be another reboot for Cal and his staff. It's way too early to make such predictions, but still interesting to discuss, nonetheless. Cal touched on this (and other roster issues) when talking to the media on Monday. Check out the video below:



As reported here yesterday, UK will host ESPN's College Gameday on Saturday, February 13th. The Cats will take on Pearl and the Tennessee Vols at Rupp Arena in the nightcap. That makes it at least five games being carried by ESPN in the upcoming season. The other four games will be featured on Super Tuesdays (against Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Florida and South Carolina). Calipari is excited about the exposure this will bring to his program, as he has "tweeted" about it a couple of times already. We'll know more about the schedule after Dave Baker's "Cal's Cats: The Calender" TV special, which is rumored to air on Thursday night at 9 PM CST/1o PM EST on the Big Blue Network.

Some good news from the football team: Randall Cobb saw a specialist yesterday and is rumored to have received a good report on his back injury. Meanwhile, Aaron Boyd returned to practice yesterday after his short suspension.

Congrats to Micah Johnson, who was listed on the Lombardi Award Watch list yesterday. This award is given annually to the top college lineman. Johnson joins Trevard Lindley as Cats to receive well-deserved national preseason recognition. There's also a pretty obscure rumor (probably based more on a lot of "wouldn't that be cool" internet chatter) that Kentucky might wear black uniforms for their home game against Mississippi State.

Last but not least, we would like to welcome Ryan Youngblood to the BBNR team! Ryan is a native of Western Kentucky and currently attends law school at UK. Ryan is a smart, witty, and intelligent guy, and we're very happy to welcome him on board. He posted his welcome post below, which should tease you of some of the fun stuff he'll be talking about in the days ahead.

Oh, and we're still waiting to hear from the right UK Gal! We know you're out there, so all you gotta do is email us bigbluenation@wk.net and let us know you're interested in the job! If you happen to be a UK student, Ryan will carry your books for you, and I have a $5 gift card to the campus bookstore. That's a really competitive compensation package for you to consider while you think about sending us that email.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, Big Blue Nation! Have a great Hump Day... as always, we'll have lots more later...